Exploring Art: January 2011

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Just Glue It! - When I first began contemplating the idea that I should be an artist, I found myself fraught with paralyzing perfectionism. Instead of actually painting something, I would sit and think for hours about what I could create, to the point that the creation was so complete in my mind, that I felt no need to bring it out into the real world. Doing so felt like following the assembly directions on an Ikea piece of furniture, knowing full well what it should look like and eventually does, only after enduring much pain and torture, and possibly homicide if one is within reach of an innocent bystander who tosses out well meaning suggestions. So when I happened upon the art form of collage, for some reason my mind freed up and I could actually create something. I learned to create in the moment in a feverish intuitive fashion without any plan, just me responding to the images and the ground they were adhered to. I virtually tricked myself into creating by saying silly things to myself like, “it’s only a collage”, “I never have to show anyone”, or “I can rumple it up and throw it away”. But what happened is I got out of my own way. I produced about 100 tiny collages that were my best friends and confidants in those early stages of finding my creative voice. During the collage years, I noticed that whenever I thought too much about a composition, I would begin to freeze up again. So I came up with a slogan to put above my desk that said, “Just glue it”. This reminded to me that for some reason I may not be aware of, the piece of paper that I found in my hand in that moment, was the perfect piece of paper to be used, and I should ”JUST GLUE IT”. Sorry Nike, I hope this isn’t copyright infringement.

So after many years of gluing, and an eventual transition into painting, (I still have a collage element in all my paintings, and I still work intuitively) I enjoy a fine-art career that I completely support myself with. Now, I’m feeling the time is right for me to add in writing as part of my creative outlet, and this blog will begin serving that purpose. I don’t actually know for sure what I’m going to write about, but I’m figuring if I don’t start typing, I won’t ever get started. I need another slogan. “Just type it” seems to be the obvious one, but is it clever enough to make me do it? Anyway, I have some ideas and subjects that I’m perennialy interested in like synchronicity, systems theory, the business of art, group dynamics, entrepreneurship, leadership, and paradox, but I’m more interested in seeing how this writing evolves organically. My original idea was to blog through the process of writing the book I am working on which combines all of the above topics into a theory I have regarding the occurrence of synchronicity and how it can be actively employed. So without much editing, I think I’ll JUST TYPE IT!